Margolese National Design for Living Prize

Vikram Bhatt’s entire career has been focused upon improving the quality of living for those who may be seen as poor but who have human capital and great resourcefulness. In addition to his foundational work on housing in the developing world for over four decades, he has led the national initiative in urban agriculture in Canada, a project that has benefitted Canadians of all economic classes, particularly those in need of food.
 
He is considered a significant figure in Canadian architectural education, whose research, projects and publications have exerted great influence both inside the academy and in practice. Vikram has received numerous awards including an AD Architectural Design Research Award, an American Institute of Architects’ Sustainable Community Design Ideas Competition Prize, two Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute’s Faculty Research Fellowships and two Graham Foundation for the Fine Arts Grants. In 2008, his team won the National Urban Design Award of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Canadian Institute of Planners, and Canadian Society of Landscape Architects.

Bing Thom, winner of the 2013 Margolese National Design for Living Prize, is one of Canada’s most admired and accomplished architects. Following his immigration from Hong Kong to Vancouver with his family, Bing pursued a Bachelor of Architecture degree from UBC and his Master of Architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Early in his career, he worked in the office of Fumihiko Maki in Tokyo, before returning to Canada to join the office of Arthur Erickson. In this position, Bing oversaw notable projects such as the Robson Square courthouse complex in Vancouver and the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto before establishing his own firm in the early 1980s.
 
Bing’s commitment to using architecture to improve the urban context and social condition has been recognized by a range of honours including the Order of Canada and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal for outstanding contributions to architecture and the community. Dedicated to helping the next generation of architects, Bing is a popular lecturer in Canada and abroad and the privileged recipient of honorary degrees from SFU and UBC, and an honorary professorship from Tongji University in Shanghai. Most recently Bing received the 2011 RAIC Gold Medal, the highest honour awarded a Canadian architect.

For over 30 years, Eric Miller’s research into the interactions between humans, urban land use, transportation, and the environment has been on the cutting edge. His work in the modelling of vehicle emissions, pollutant dispersion, and their exposure to human populations has helped to develop a more comprehensive understanding of these fundamental urban planning issues. Currently, his Integrated Land Use, Transportation, and Environment model (ILUTE), considered a world-leading contribution to the science of urban simulation, continues to contribute to the increased sustainability of living environments both internationally and here in Canada.